DETROIT (AP) — Attorneys for Gov. Rick Snyder say there’s no fundamental right to literacy for Detroit schoolchildren who are suing Michigan over the quality of their education.
The Detroit News reports assistant attorney general Timothy J. Haynes asked a federal judge to dismiss the case in a motion filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
“But as important as literacy may be, the United States Supreme Court has unambiguously rejected the claim that public education is a fundamental right under the Constitution. Literacy is a component or particular outcome of education, not a right granted to individuals by the Constitution,” Haynes says.
Kathryn Eidmann, staff attorney for Public Counsel, which is representing the schoolchildren, said the state’s response was disappointing and did not come as a surprise.
“There is no mention about the fact that hardly any of the students have access to teachers or books. These are schools where no state officials or state lawyer would send their child,” she said.
Seven children filed the lawsuit in September, saying decades of state disinvestment and deliberate indifference to Detroit’s schools have denied them access to literacy.
The plaintiffs say the schools have deplorable building conditions, lack of books, classrooms without teachers, insufficient desks, buildings plagued by vermin, unsafe facilities and extreme temperatures.
Haynes says these claims go far beyond mere access to education.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III is expected to hear motions from both Public Counsel and the state in February to decide whether the case moves forward.
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